350 Park Avenue © DBOX for Foster + Partners
A proposed supertall office tower in Midtown East is set to enter the public review process next month, according to a land use application filed with the city this week. Vornado Realty Trust, Citadel, and Rudin Management are looking to build a 1,600-foot-tall skyscraper at 350 Park Avenue. Set to replace three existing buildings, the fully electric tower will rise 62 stories and deliver 1.8 million square feet of office space and a new public concourse. Designed by Foster + Partners, Ken Griffin’s Citadel and Citadel Securities would be the tower’s anchor tenants, occupying at least 850,000 square feet.
The three buildings set for demolition include a Vornado-owned 30-story office tower at 350 Park Avenue, a Rudin-owned 23-story office building at 40 East 52nd Street, and a five-story office building at 39 East 51st Street.
According to the Environmental Assessment Statement filed by Vornado, the proposed project would include over 1.6 million square feet of office, financial trading and tenant amenity space, and nearly 23,000 square feet of retail space, likely a fast food establishment and a larger restaurant.
A proposed 12,500-square-foot public plaza will be located along Park Avenue and feature green space, seating, enhanced visibility of nearby landmarks, public art installations, and opportunities for local businesses. It will also improve pedestrian flow across the corridor.
Last year, Mayor Eric Adams and the developers released new renderings of the project, showing off its glass facade, landscaped terraces, and unique “stepped configuration.”
“350 Park Avenue is a new symbol of the rebirth of this world-famous street, resulting from the city’s Midtown rezoning initiative,” Nigel Dancey, head of studio at Foster + Partners, said in a statement announcing the design. “With its stepped back, gently tapering form, the building follows in the tradition of distinctive towers along Park Avenue, creating a silhouette that is very much ‘of New York.’”
Dancey added: “The all-electric tower is designed to meet the needs of the workplace of the future with a variety of flexible floorplates, featuring cascading green terraces and soaring amenity floors that will define a new generation of buildings on Park Avenue.”
Construction could begin next spring following the roughly seven-month uniform land use review procedure (ULURP). The process requires numerous public hearings, as well as review from the DCP, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, the local community board, the City Council, and the mayor.
If approved, the project is expected to be completed by 2032.
Plans for the tower first surfaced in May 2019, following the passage of the Midtown East rezoning in 2017. The zoning reform has cleared the way for 6.5 million square feet of new office space on 78 blocks around Ground Central Terminal, allowing for denser development.
Citadel and Vornado acquired air rights from St. Patrick’s Cathedral and St. Bartholomew’s Church, allowing for a larger tower than originally proposed under the rezoning deal. Part of the proceeds pay for upgrades to public spaces in the area.
The Midtown East rezoning aims to modernize the area’s aging office buildings, many of which lack the floor-to-ceiling heights, larger floor plates, and functionality needed for today’s business operations, according to the developer’s application.
Other supertall towers coming to the neighborhood thanks to the rezoning include 175 Park Avenue, a 1,575-foot-tall mixed-use building developed by TF Cornerstone and RXR Realty and designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and 270 Park Avenue, a 60-story tower built as the headquarters for JPMorgan Chase. Norman Foster’s 47-story tower at 425 Park Avenue was completed in 2022.
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